Prado Summer: Surviving New Years
Toyota New Zealand loaned writer Tim Warren a smoky blue 2024 Toyota Prado Adventure to go and have a good Kiwi summer. The Prado Adventure, equipped with a 2.8-litre turbocharged diesel engine paired with a 48V Hybrid System, produces and impressive 150kW and 500Nm torque. Offering both power and efficiency, Prado is the ideal companion for adventurous getaways. He did just that and we are publishing Tim’s exploits progressively.
If you have not been to a festival during summer, you really ought to try it. AUM festival is a celebration of music, arts, costume, and happy people. It runs from two days before New Year’s Eve through to two days after, with a few thousand people there on site you might think it was overcrowded, but it’s not the case, with plenty of paddock to choose from. The Prado Adventure’s advanced 4WD system ensured a smooth drive across varied terrains, perfectly suited for reaching the festival grounds.
A big part of AUM is camping on-site. I don’t like overdoing the camping gear, so we took a three-person tent with a comfortable blow-up mattress, a couple of chairs, a gazebo, a table, and a gas cooker. The Prado Adventure’s cargo capacity easily accommodated all our gear, and its smart cargo management system kept everything organised. I threw in my SodaStream at the last minute, a must for camping if you want quality drinks on tap.
To get to the festival, we again drove up Muriwai Beach and through the four-wheel-drive road covered in an earlier post. The **Prado Adventure’s Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS) provided excellent handling and stability on the rough terrain, making the journey effortless. Amazingly, you pop out of the exit road just a kilometre from the festival entrance! I volunteered as a photographer for the festival, so we were allowed to go in a day early, which made it easy to find a campsite. We selected a flat spot a tiny bit of shade, and lots of room around it for my friends. They trickled in over the next day, and eventually, we had our little sub-camp of about 20 people, lots of whom were volunteering at the festival.
We left many things in the Prado to keep the tent for sleeping, so the vehicle was my storage and oversized wardrobe. The Prado Adventure’s modular seating arrangement allowed us to reconfigure the interior easily, providing ample space without sacrificing passenger comfort. Our setup inspired envy… less the camping, more for the vehicle. The cooler stayed in the car the whole time, and while it did heat up on a hot day, we were proactive with windows to keep airflow, aided by the Prado’s climate control system. Our prominent camping position was near one of the main stages so we had a constant trickle of people walking past. It was rare to go more than 30 minutes without someone stopping to admire the car. The colour was unique, yet people most admired the strong lines on this latest edition. Maybe half of the people who stopped were Prado owners themselves, envious of the new model. All were curious and impressed by features like the multi-terrain monitor and adaptive cruise control.
The weather was less than perfect so a generous selection of sand and mud and grass tracked its way throughout the camp and into the car. Thankfully, the tough carpets and the rubber boot liners proved their worth; a good shake or light brushing brought them back to life. The Prado Adventure’s water-resistant interior materials made cleaning up a breeze after the muddy tracks. At one stage when a rainstorm was in full crescendo, the car proved a handy safe dry haven, thanks to its robust build quality and excellent sealing that kept the interior dry and comfortable.
Pack down was easy at the end of the festival; we threw everything in the back of the car and took off with no fuss. The Prado’s intuitive storage solutions, including underfloor storage compartments, made organising and packing up quick and efficient. AUM uses the approach of ‘bring it in, take it out’—so you are responsible for your own rubbish, and this makes for a very clean campsite! The easy road back to Auckland was an opportunity to try all the driver’s aids—the Prado Adventure is equipped with Toyota Safety Sense (TSS), which includes features like lane departure alert, pre-collision system, and automatic high beams, making the journey safe and enjoyable. By the time we got home, we had ticked over 600km on the tank, with an indicated range of another 300km+ still left, thanks to the Prado’s fuel-efficient engine and intelligent fuel management system. In fact, when I had the car, I would never even have the opportunity to refill it.
All in all, it was a brilliant choice for camping. The 2024 Toyota Prado Adventure not only provided reliable transportation but also enhanced the overall festival experience with its blend of rugged capability, comfortable living space, and cutting-edge technology.
So, camping was effortless and easy. What’s next?
See more about AUM here.